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ORIGINAL TITLE: Why are package versions in Ubuntu so lagged? How to make package management more efficient? (edited to avoid duplicate questions, see comments below)

Backgroud:
I started using Ubuntu occasionally since 2009, and used Xubuntu on a daily basis for about four months last year. Now, I have been using Arch Linux in Virtualbox under Windows7 for about two months. Last week, I turned back to update my previously installed Xubuntu for a full Linux setup.

Honestly, it annoyed me a lot. With ArchLinux, updating packages is much much easier than that in Ubuntu.

Under Arch Linux, I rarely have to build binaries from source codes by myself (AUR would do most part of the work). However under Ubuntu, since versions of many packages are much older than their official developer releases, I have to configure and build them bit by bit, tweaking settings, finding missing dependencies all by myself. Sometimes, I am lucky enough to find private repositories (but they could be easily fragmented, and hard to track over time), sometimes I literally have to do a lot research to find out what package contains some files missed. It is very frustrating.

Question:

  • Why are many packages in Ubuntu so lagged while Arch Linux has more bleeding edge updates?
  • Are there any tips/methods to make package management under Ubuntu more efficient?
Braiam
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Lagrange
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    Question no. 2: If you want a more granular, Arch-like approach to managing individual packages to keep them up to date to the latest version, your first step would be to install Synaptic Package Manager. You can use Synaptic alongside the Ubuntu Software Center. Synaptic has additional version control features. – karel Feb 07 '14 at 11:20
  • @karel, thanks for the referring me to the similar question. The explanation there is reasonable and helpful. I will check out the version control feature in synaptic. Thanks. – Lagrange Feb 07 '14 at 11:28
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    There is an example of using Force Version and Lock Version features in Synaptic in this answer: http://askubuntu.com/questions/280791/blue-faces-again-with-recent-nvidia-update/280814#280814. – karel Feb 07 '14 at 11:32

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